Arena Blog

Read How the Integration of Arena with NetSuite Helped TrueNorth Avionics Soar Above the Competition

One of the more recognized use cases illustrating the remarkable business benefits of integrating a PLM with an ERP system is the high-profile success of TrueNorth Avionics, the aircraft telecommunication device manufacturer.

Product Design & Development wrote: "TrueNorth’s executive team recognized the need to make sure that precise, up-to-date product revision data and document approvals were reflected in NetSuite. Product managers wanted to assure tight control of bills of materials (BOMs) and associated BOM items, and to easily collaborate on products across multiple sites. The company’s standards require that product revisions, approvals, releases into production, and component changes all be tightly controlled and documented."

"These requirements led TrueNorth to NetSuite partner Arena Solutions and its cloud-based BOMControl PLM application. TrueNorth wanted a solution that would help control product changes, coordinate its supply chain, and enable the company to continue scaling production to meet demand, with global scope and cloud integration."

In the story, Chris Bartlett, director of product management at TrueNorth Avionics, says that BOMControl was a significant contributor to the successful completion of the company's AS9100 audit. “It enabled us to demonstrate crucial controls over our processes along with seamless integration to our NetSuite ERP system," said Bartlett. "We demonstrated our ability to track changes down to the user and date. We demonstrated our ability to maintain tight control over ECO changes to a BOM and see new revisions of documents, assembly drawings or anything associated with our manufacturing and engineering that we contain in BOMControl. All of these capabilities leading to the certification provided positive validation of our decision to implement BOMControl PLM.”

The story pointed out that the cloud-based integrated ERP-PLM solution from NetSuite and Arena offered TrueNorth the following advantages:

Ensuring real-time accuracy without increased IT costs

The ability to quickly and easily review multiple bills of materials without having to open each individual BOM

Assurance that all operational areas have accurate, up-to-date visibility when product changes are made in Arena BOMControl PLM

Supply Chain World wrote the following about the impact Arena integrated with NetSuite had to the success of TrueNorth:

“Integration between a cloud product lifecycle management application and NetSuite streamlines product development and planning. The results are striking. TrueNorth added high-profile customers, including several heads of state and Fortune 50 fleets, and expanding across Canada, the U.S. and Europe, and it has more than 80 percent of large aircraft telecommunications market share.

Rather than compete in the global marketplace for the specialized, high value skills necessary to customize and maintain on premise ERP software, manufacturers running ERP in the cloud can access standards-based, globally-compliant solutions at predictable prices. They can accommodate cloud costs as an operational expense, lessening the impact on strategic financial planning.

In-house data centers and on-premise ERP software are symbols of wasteful spending. IT talent may have given manufacturers a competitive edge a decade ago, but today a technology stack is a costly liability.”

TrueNorth's success is just one example of how integrating Arena PLM with an ERP system can help your company to reduce ECO cycle times by 70%, dramatically increase new product releases, and reduce time to market by 20%. Your company is just one click away from getting a demo and making it happen. Today.